Obstacles in the Odyssey
by obsessive360
Summary: "No harm...opening a chest." Thanks to Evy (again) the "gang" and on the hunt for Imhotep (and the Scorpion King). Why? Aside from stopping the Lover-boy from ruling the world, Imhotep had Alex O'Connell and Amira Bay! On the odyssey to rescue the children, ancient prophecies play out; if anyone would have listened to Hazel eight years ago, they would not even be in this mess!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't **_**The Mummy**_**. Also, this is my second Mummy story. Exception the gods, whose history I **_**may**_** have skewed a bit to fit the story, unless the name was in the movie, I have made up the Egyptian names.**

1933, Thebes, Egypt

Two women, neither older than thirty-three, stood in a tomb; one of them was brushing thousands of years worth of dust off of a wall of hieroglyphics, the other guarding the door with a weapon in hand. As the first woman continued to brush away dust, a hissing sound reached the women's ears.

"Go away!", Evelyn O'Connell said to the snake as she kicked it towards the doorway, causing both Hazel and Rick to duck.

"Those are poisonous, you know!", the siblings chorused.

"Only if they bite you.", Evy replied cheekily.

The brother-sister duo rolled their eyes, but smiled all the same.

"What was all that about, anyway?", Evy continued.

"Aw, nothing. Alex just wanted to show me something.", Rick said as he carried a heavy box over to his wife.

"Was it the symbol of the Medjai on the wall by the entrance?", Hazel asked sarcastically.

"Hole-in-one, Sis. Any idea what it is?", Rick replied.

"No, not really. I only caught a brief glimpse of it. Should I go back to the front and have another look?", the Medjai "queen" asked.

"I wouldn't, if I were you.", Evy spoke up.

"Why not?", Rick asked.

"Because, I overheard the children talking the other night, and Alex seems to think that we're hiding something from him. Amira doesn't understand why you can't let her see her father, and Hala feels like there is something she should remember, but can't. If any of us go in the temple now, before we're ready to leave, they'll only think we're trying to keep them in the dark even more.", she answered, and Hazel's eyes met the floor.

"It's not that I don't want Amira to know the truth, or Hala either. I'm afraid of- why am I telling you this? You already know why I've kept the truth from them!", she exclaimed, and Rick laughed.

"Now, where were we?", Rick asked.

"Hammer and chisel.", Evy said, handing the small tools over to Rick.

"Evy!", Hazel said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, all right! We can do this your way, Rick!", and Rick took the crowbar from his wife's hands while his sister chuckled behind him.

The wall (possibly once a door) fell down, and the three walked over it, Evy lightly tip-towing over the scorpions in the next chamber. Rick simply stepped on the scorpions, not caring that they were there. Hazel, meanwhile, was standing behind them on the fallen slab of wall, reading the hieroglyphic inscription.

Two women were fighting, both masked. She only read the first few lines before Rick called her name, but she knew then what the tomb was hiding and why it had been calling to Evy.

Upon entering the room her brother and sister-in-law were in, Hazel saw the golden emblem Evy was transfixed with.

"Isn't that...", she trailed off.

"The emblem of the Scorpion King? Yes, it is.", Evy replied.

"And this is remarkable because..", now it was Rick's turn to trail off.

"Well, he's supposed to be pure myth.", Hazel started.

"And no trace of him has ever been found before, no artifacts, no archival evidence.", Evy finished.

"Maybe they didn't want anybody to find him?", Rick offered, and both women suppressed shudders at the memory of the last time someone was found who was meant to stay hidden.

"Let's open this.", Evy said as she inspected the chest before her.

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this.", Rick said, taking his turn to suppress a shudder.

"It's only a chest. No harm ever came from opening a chest.", Evy defended.

"Ha ha, yeah, and no harm ever came from reading a book, and you remember how that one went.", Rick told her, and Hazel had to agree.

"The man has a point, Evy."

Meanwhile, in the temple of the tomb:

While two of the three goons who had entered the tomb searched through the treasures on the ground, three children were lying on their backs on a high wooden platform. Every so often, one of them would take a shot at the most skittish goon's backside. So far, Hala Bay and Amira Bay had both hit their targets and kept quiet. Then it was Alex O'Connell's turn.

The eight year old turned over, aimed, and fired. The goon, Spivey, jumped and howled, making Alex laugh. That resulted in Alex, Hala, and Amira each slapping a hand over Alex's mouth.

"We're dead!", Hala mouthed to her cousin.

After a few minutes of silence, Amira rolled over and took aim, for it was her turn again. With deadly precision and lightning fast reflexes, she let the rock fly. The other goon, Jacques, caught it and smiled at the trio evilly. Then, the whole tomb seemed to shake violently. Jacques was climbing the ladder when Red, the third goon, came running into the temple yelling that it was time to go. Jacques knocked a piece of wood out of place, making the tower wobbled, before running off.

Soon, the trio went toppling into the column nearest to them, setting off a domino effect. A few columns in, they slid off of the column they had been clinging to, and Alex rushed over to the wall to keep the symbol that matched his father's tattoo from getting smashed. Fortunately for the three adults, he was too weak, and it crashed into the wall. Rick, Evy, and Hazel came into the room in a rush of water that had been set off when Evy opened the chest and removed the golden bracelet that had been inside.

Looking at his parents and aunt, Alex spoke up.

"Mum, Dad, Aunt Hazel, I can explain everything!"

A few hundred miles away, at Hamunaptra, an excavation was going on. As a pit of scarab beetles was set fire to, and a body encased in a crystallized jelly-like substance was pulled from the sands, a man masquerading as a digger listened in on the conversation between the people in charge of the excavation.

"No, I have a different chore for you. Where is the bracelet now?", the oldest man in the group asked.

"Well, considering the O'Connells and those Medjai girls all managed to escape with their lives, it's on its way to jolly ol' London.", Red told him.

"Then it is to London we shall go.", and with that, Ardeth knew London was where he would be going as well.

A/N: Hope you liked it, and I will understand if you found anyone a little OOC. Don't you worry your pretty little heads off, Darlings; Ardeth and Hazel (as well as Ardeth and the girls) will be reunited soon, so keep and eye out for it! R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't **_**The Mummy**_**. Also, this is my second Mummy story. Exception the gods, whose history I **_**may**_** have skewed a bit to fit the story, unless the name was in the movie, I have made up the Egyptian names. Also, Isis is the goddess (or a goddess) of healing.**

Hazel was mad. No, she was furious. She, Rick, and Evy had left the children alone, downstairs, for no more than ten minutes, and they had already misplaced the key to the bracelet's chest.

"If I don't have that key in my sight in ten seconds, all of you are grounded."

That statement was met with three answers. All three started with an Arabic term.

"Khalla, I don't have it!", Hala declared.

"Am'ma, don't look at me!", Alex stated as he put his hands in front of his chest.

"Mama, I didn't mean to misplace it!", Amira said as her mother searched her pockets for the necklace**/**key in question.

"Well, you all better start finding it!", Hazel said, turning as she heard the swoosh of robes behind her.

Before words even left her mouth, she had pushed all three children behind her and unsnapped the cuff around her left wrist. The robed figure was Lok-Nah.

"What are you doing here?", she asked.

"Looking for the chest, of course. You're just an added bonus.", he replied, and brave Alex grabbed the chest.

Hazel lifted her hand and felt the magic pulsing through her veins as she spoke to Lok-Nah, "Get out of this house!"

"Mama, now might be a good time to get Uncle Rick.", Amira whispered, but Hazel was not listening.

"Now," Lok-Nah said as more guards surrounded him. "I will just take it and kill you anyway."

"I think not.", said a voice that Hazel had not heard in six years.

"Khal.", Hala said in a whisper.

"What?", Amira asked her, her tone incredulous.

"Ardeth Bay.", Lok-Nah said with a smirk.

"Lok-Nah.", Ardeth replied, obviously not pleased with the situation.

Lok-Nah gave the command to attack as Evy rounded the corned behind Hazel and Ardeth, grabbing a sword from the vase by the archway. Ardeth did not even pull his sword, as Hazel had seized his hand and sent a blast of magic at Lok-Nah, who ducked just in time for it to go right over him and hit his men instead.

Hazel and Ardeth shared a look, and she dropped his hand before telling Evy to take the children away. Ardeth, meanwhile, had begun dueling Lok-Nah sword-to-sword. Pretty soon, however, it had progressed to punches, kicks, and head-butting as well.

Evy was trying to get the three children out of the room, but more men arrived. The fighting resumed, and Hala took it upon herself to look after the two younger children. Alex focused on trying to help his mother, and Amira looked at Ardeth in shock. That was her father, and he was getting the stuffing beat out of him.

"Not bad, for a Medjai.", Lok-Nah said to Ardeth, and Amira froze.

Much like happened to her mother in dreams, Amira saw visions of her past life. She saw the face of Nefretiri, the face of Adom, the face of Isethamia, and the palace of the Medjai. She saw more current visions, such as her parents' magic being used to find the Book of Amun Ra; she saw her parents' wedding; she saw the night that Lok-Nah attacked, and she saw what her mother had done to save her. As the visions came to an end, Amira cried silently. Hazel did not see the tears on her daughter's face, as she was fighting off more attackers.

The last straw was when Lok-Nah managed to slice his sword into Ardeth's shoulder.

Everything she knew, every self-defense move she had ever learned in her short eight years came flooding back to her at full force. Amira ran forward, grabbed the jeweled dagger from her father's belt, and sunk it into Lok-Nah's right arm. She pulled the dagger out and Lok-Nah's hand flew to his bleeding arm. In seconds, he had smacked the eight year old across the face and fled with his men and the unconscious bodies of Evy and Hazel.

"Mama!", Amira cried out at the same time Alex yelled, "Mum!"

Hala ran forward and picked Alex up off of the ground before they made their way to Ardeth and Amira, the latter of which had crawled over to her father, who was leaning back against the wall.

"Babba!", she cried as she crawled into his lap.

"Amira!", Ardeth exclaimed joyously as he hugged his daughter to his chest for the first time since she was but a baby.

At the sound of gunshots, Ardeth was back on alert and told the children to get out of the house. It was there that they met up with Rick and Johnathan. Rick saw Ardeth and Amira, both with blood on them, and his anger flared.

"What the hell are you doing here? Six years of no contact, and then this? Never mind, I don't care about that at the moment. Where in the hell are my wife and sister?", he asked angrily.

"First, I had no idea where Hazel was, so don't you dare blame me for not trying to contact her. For all I knew, Lok-Nah had taken her, and the girls, and she could have been dead! Second, wherever this man is, OUR wives will surely be.", Ardeth said, reigning _his_ anger back in long enough to show Rick a picture of a familiar man.

Amira cocked her head sideways at the photo before turning to Alex.

"Isn't that the curator from the British Museum?"

Alex looked at the photo, as did Hala, and the young boy's face lit up. Hala nodded as Alex vocalized his answer.

"Yeah, that's him!"

"Are you all sure?", Ardeth asked them.

"You better believe it. They spend more time there with the girls than they do at home!", Rick exclaimed, and all five took off for Rick's car.

As they rounded the corner, Rick spoke again.

"Okay, so you're here, the bad guys are here, and our wives have been kidnaped. Let me guess-", Ardeth cut him off.

"Yes, they have removed the creature from his grave.", now it was Johnathan's turn to butt in.

"I don't mean to point fingers, but isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen?", he asked.

"The woman who was with them, she knows things, things no living person should know. She knew exactly where the creature was buried." Ardeth told them, and Amira nearly gasped. "We were hoping that she would lead us to the bracelet. Well, she did, and now they have it."

"I wouldn't get too nervous just yet.", Alex said, pulling back his sleeve to show the bracelet on his arm.

"Is that gold?", Johnathan asked while Ardeth spoke of a chain reaction which could bring about the next apocalypse.

"You," Rick pointed at Ardeth, "lighten up. You," now at Alex, "big trouble. And you three," he finally pointed at the two young girls and Johnathan. "get in the car."

As they went down the road, Ardeth apologized to Rick, and they found out about the seven-day waiting period for the rise of the Scorpion King.

"Even if the bracelet was in the chest, it's not as if they could open it very easily.", Amira told her father.

"Why is that, Amira?", he asked curiously.

"Because, when those men came into the room, I saw this on the floor, under the table. Alex apparently dropped it after he opened the chest. I put it on to keep it from the men.", Amira said as she pulled the key from inside the neckline of her dress.

"I guess it's a good thing the necklace-key-thing was temporarily lost.", Alex said with a half-hearted smile.

"If only the creature could still be lost to the world as well! Listen, whomever can kill the Scorpion King can send his army back to the underworld or use it to wipe out mankind and rule the world.", Ardeth stated, wiping the smile off of Alex's face.

"That's bad.", the blonde boy responded.

"But a Medjai can stop him. Isn't that the prophecy, Babba? I saw it on the wall of the tomb the bracelet was in. Unlike some people, I read the whole inscription _before_ it was smashed.", Amira asked, looking up at her father from her place between him and Rick, who was driving.

"Oh, shut it, Mira! Unlike _some people_, I don't seem to have all of this knowledge about the Medjai and prophecies.", Alex replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Will you two quit fighting for once!", Hala snapped, and both of them listened to the older girl.

Inside the museum, Evy and Hazel woke to find men chanting around what looked like a caterpillar's cocoon.

"They found him, Elle." Evy said.

"Imhotep.", Hazel let out in a whisper.

As Hafez finished the spell to bring Imhotep back to life, both women gulped. The creature let out a roar, and then looked around until Hafez began speaking.

"_**My Lord, it is the year of the Scorpion.**_"

"_**You are certain?**_", Imhotep asked, and Hafez assured him he was.

Just then, the doors opened, and a woman came around the corner. Evy felt swept into another vision, but Hazel felt nothing but hate.

"Anck-su-namun.", she growled lowly.

Soon enough, once it was discovered that the Bracelet of Anubis was not in the box, the woman, Meela Nias, ordered for Evy and Hazel to be killed. Just as they were to be tossed into a fire, and presumably burned to death, Rick jumped through the fire and knocked both women to the floor. He helped them up and over behind some boxes, where he then cut their bindings.

"Where's the bracelet, Rick?", Hazel asked quickly.

"Alex's wrist.", Rick whispered back.

"And my husband?", Hazel added.

"He's the guy up there shooting at those guys.", Rick said, pointing from Ardeth to Imhotep's forces.

"Did the kids find the key?", she asked another question and Evy was handed a handgun.

"Check your daughter's neck. She picked it up when we were attacked at the house so they wouldn't have it. What did they use, acid?", Rick asked in reply, and Hazel nodded.

"Cover me.", she told them, and darted across the room to the stairs when bullets started flying from her brother and sister-in-law's guns. She made it across and went up the stairs, and placed her hand on Ardeth's wounded shoulder. Magic pulsed through her as she healed his wound, and he turned his head to smile at her.

"Thank you, my desert flower.", he said as she took his hand in her own.

"Again?", she asked, referring to the beginning of the attack at the manor.

"On three.", he agreed.

"One. Two. Three!", they counted together before releasing a burst of power that sent most of the cultists flying backwards and into flames.

"Nice shot!", Rick remarked as he and Evy ran up behind them.

"Thanks!", Hazel replied as they ran through the museum to get back outside to the children, car, and Johnathan.

Once there, Evy tried to pull a bench in front of the door.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing? These people don't use doors.", Rick told her as he pulled her away from the door.

They ran back to the car, only to find nobody there. All of a sudden, a double decker bus rounded the corner, and Johnathan was behind the wheel. Alex, Amira, and Hala were at the front window beside him.

"Was there something wrong with my car?", Rick asked.

"Well, I was forced to find an alternative means of transportation.", Johnathan argued.

"But a double-decker bus?", Rick asked.

"It was their idea!", Johnathan replied, pointing at the children.

"Was not!", all three cried at once.

"It doesn't matter! Just get on the bus now!", Hazel screamed as four mummies came bursting out of the museum's walls.

The mummies chased the bus, scaling buildings along the way. Rick, on the second level, was taking shots at the mummies; Ardeth was ready to shoot, and did when one of the mummies jumped onto the bus. Things were going mostly well for the Medjai until the mummy he was fighting scratched him across the chest, leaving huge and bloody gashes. Evy picked up Rick's shotgun, which had fallen to the first level, and shot the mummy before it could inflict any more damage on Ardeth.

After Johnathan decapitated the bus with a low bridge, Rick came down to the first level, and he looked at Ardeth, who had Hazel beside him.

"You okay?", he asked.

"This...was my first bus ride.", Ardeth joked back as a gold light shined from Hazel's hand as she healed the scratches.

Evy kissed Rick, and Alex pretended to gag. He walked to the back of the bus with Amira, who was laughing at Alex's face. Alex bumped up against her, and the key's chain stuck to his jacket. As they tried to unhook it, with no such luck, a pair of arms reached into the bus and grabbed both children.

Rick chased after the car the two had been placed inside, but to no avail. Johnathan tried to be positive, not really dealing well with the two crying women and the crying ten year old girl.

"They won't kill Alex as long as he's wearing the bracelet, right?"

"Of course they won't, but what about my daughter!", Hazel roared.

"As long as she and Alex are stuck together, they will not kill her. Alex would think of that, so he would try to make sure they're stuck together. He's rather good under pressure.", Hala said, and Rick let out a sigh.

"He said that the bracelet showed him the pyramids at Giza and then Karnak. All we have to do is get there first, right?", he asked Ardeth.

"Yes, then Alex will be given the next location by the bracelet.", Ardeth replied.

"Sounds like we're going to need a magic carpet.", Rick said, and Hazel smiled.

"It's time to see Izzy!", she said, unable to not smile as she said Izzy's name.

A/N: Hope you liked it, and I will understand if you found anyone a little OOC. Don't you worry your pretty little heads off, Darlings; Hazel has nothing but sisterly-love for Izzy. I would never dream of breaking her and Ardeth up for good, or for anyone else. If anyone has an idea of what might happen when Alex and Amira separate, PM me your guess. I'll let you know if your even in the ball park, and I'll try to update soon, so keep and eye out for that! R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't **_**The Mummy**_**. Also, this is my second Mummy story. Exception the gods, whose history I **_**may**_** have skewed a bit to fit the story, unless the name was in the movie, I have made up the Egyptian names. Also, Isis is the goddess (or a goddess) of healing.**

Lok-Nah was agitated. He desperately wanted to kill the two children he was carrying onto the train, and for two completely different reasons. The girl would have to die, simply because her father was Ardeth Bay. They boy was just plain annoying. He had not shut his mouth since he and his cousin had been taken.

"Cool! The Book of the Dead!", Alex cried out as he saw the black book in Meela's hands.

"Shut up, Alex!", Amira hissed as they were placed on the floor.

"What a bright little child.", Meela remarked, looking at the two.

"First time I've heard that!", Amira mumbled, and Meela took a closer look at _her_.

"Your mothers must be missing you terribly. So, if you ever wish to see them again, you better behave.", and as Meela said this, Amira scoffed.

"He doesn't behave for his parents-", Amira began.

"So what makes you think I'll behave for you, Lady?", Alex finished.

"Because your parents wouldn't slip poisonous snakes into your bed while you are sleeping.", Meela said in a calm, yet threatening, fashion.

"Lord Imhotep wished to meet the children, the boy specifically.", Hafez said suddenly, and Amira paled.

"Now we shall see how brave you really are.", Lok-Nah said darkly, and the next thing either child knew, they were being led into another car.

Lok-Nah pushed them forward, and he knelt to the ground as the figure clad in black robes turned to face them. Amira breathed slowly, trying to remain calm, but Alex felt a breath get caught in his throat as he saw the silvery mask upon Imhotep's face.

**"**_**Listen well, young ones, for I know you can understand me. You are the chosen one, little boy. You will lead us to Ahm Shere.**_**"**, Imhotep said to Alex.

"What if I don't? What if I get a little lost?", Alex replied.

"Then he'll just kill us, you idiot!", Amira hissed.

**"**_**Ha ha ha, you are a spirited young girl. You are truly your mother's daughter. And you are your father's son, but I know something you do not.**_**"**, Imhotep said, and Amira glared at him.

"I think you'll find that I'm a bit more like my father than you realize.", she said coldly, mentally recalling all of the times her mother had told her how much Amira could act like the father that she had never really known; Imhotep ignored this.

"And I know that the minute I put the bracelet on, I set off a chain reaction that would give me seven days before the Scorpion King wakes up.", Imhotep ignored this outburst from Alex as well.

**"**_**Do you know what happens if you do not get inside the pyramid before the sun strikes it on that day?**_**"**, he asked, not phased by either child's stubbornness and attitude. **"**_**The bracelet will suck the life right out of you.**_**"**

"I missed that part! Wait, that means I only have five days left!", Alex cried, and Amira felt like smacking him upside the head.

"Why did you even mess with it in the first place!", she asked in a whisper, but she was once more ignored.

**"**_**I belive it would be best if you did not get lost.**_**"**, Imhotep said darkly, and Alex had his comeback ready.

"My dad is going to kick you arse!", Amira was glad her aunt was not around to hear that statement.

Meanwhile, Rick pulled the car up to a building with a sign reading: Magic Carpet Airways. Evy looked skeptical, Johnathan looked horrified, and Hazel kept her laughter to herself as Izzy opened the door.

"Hey!", Rick called out to him, but Izzy simply turned and ran.

"I told you I should have handled it!", Hazel snapped as Rick shot the lock and Johnathan, begrudgingly, got their bags.

"Why? We don't have time for you to charm Izzy into helping us this time.", Rick said with a shrug as he pushed the doors open.

While Rick chased Izzy, Evy turned to Hazel.

"Elle, what did he mean by that?", she asked.

"Izzy used to have a crush on me. All I had to do in the past was sweet-talk him a little bit, and he always caved. It's not like I slept with him or anything. Besides, he's almost like another brother to me. He's really the only one who knows the lengths Rick went to, before he left, to take care of me.", Hazel explained, and Evy nodded as they turned back to the two men just in time to hear the words "bank job in Marrakesh."

"Bank job?", Evy asked.

"It's not how it sounds.", Rick told her.

"Yes it is.", Hazel stated, and Izzy looked up with a smile.

"Well, if it isn't the belly dancer girl! What did he rope you into this time, Hazel? Hopefully, it isn't anymore undercover operations.", Izzy said to her.

"Belly dancer girl?", Evy asked.

"Yeah, I'm flying high, and the white boy here flags me down. I go low for the pick up, and the next thing I know, I'm getting shot. Of course, then I see him waltzing off with some belly dancer girl, only to find out later it was his sister. A few months later, we left Cairo.", Izzy explained.

"And I started working for Terrence.", Hazel added as the neighing of horses reached their ears, bringing a smile to her face.

"As long as I don't get shot, I'll help.", Izzy said, and Rick threw him a stack of cash bills.

"Will you quit your whining now?", he asked.

"O'Connell, look around here. What do I need money for? What am I going to spend it on?", Izzy asked.

"Izzy, please, just help us. My daughter was kidnaped, along with Rick and Evelyn's son. We have five days before the world as we know it might end, and I need my Amira back. And, more so than I, her father needs her back. He hasn't seen her in nearly seven years, and he only had about one or two hours with her before she was taken. As for Rick and Evy's little boy, he and Amira are being held by the one group of people in the world who hate us more than anyone else. The bracelet Alex is wearing is the only thing keeping them from killing my nephew, and the necklace that's keeping him stuck to Amira is the only think keeping them from killing my daughter. Please, Izzy, help us find them!", Hazel begged, and Izzy caught sight of the scepter in Rick's hand, which he had taken from Johnathan.

"If you give me that gold stick, you can shave my head, wax my legs, and use me as a surfboard.", Izzy said, and Rick looked at him curiously.

"Didn't we to that in Tripoli?", he asked.

"You are so telling me about this when this whole damn thing is over!", Hazel told her brother, and he thought it best not to argue.

"Oh, hey, Izzy, when did you, um, lose your eye?", Rick asked.

"Oh, I didn't. I just thought it made me look more dashing.", and Rick ripped the eyepatch Izzy was wearing right off.

Izzy mumbled to himself as they climbed over the sand dune to meet with the Medjai. Hazel smiled at her people, but it was a tear-filled smile.

"You know, you all didn't exactly catch me at my best.", Izzy said to Hazel and Evy, the latter of which grimaced.

"I'm sure we did.", she said as the Medjai saw Hazel.

"I knew it. I'm gonna get shot!", Izzy said quietly, but Hazel heard him.

"They're actually very nice when you get to know them. Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have twelve commanders to meet and a niece to check on.", she told him before making her way to Rick, who was talking with Ardeth.

"These are the commanders of the twelve tribes of the Medjai. Horace!", Ardeth said before calling over his shoulder to the bird Hazel clearly remembered.

"A pet bird.", Johnathan noted.

"Horace isn't just any bird.", Hazel said as she held onto Hala's hand.

"He is my best and most clever friend. He will alert the commanders of our progress.", Ardeth explained, and then he turned to face Hala.

"Are you sure you do not want me to have any of these men escort you back to your grandmother, my angel?", he asked his niece.

"I am sure, Khal. I'm older, and I'm the one that should have been there to stop Alex and Amira from being taken in the first place. I will do whatever I can to help get them both back safely. Khalla has taught me how to defend myself, so I will not stand by while Alex and Amira are in danger.", the ten, almost eleven, year old said fiercely.

"If you are sure.", Ardeth said before sending the twelve commanders away and wishing them well.

Soon, they rounded the corner and saw, not a plane, but a balloon tied to a basket; or, at least, that was what Hazel thought it looked like.

"Izzy, where's your airplane?", Rick called out to his friend.

"Airplanes are a thing of the past!", Izzy called back as he ran up.

"Damn it, Izzy, it's a balloon!", Hazel said, or rather, hissed lowly so Hala could not hear her.

"It's a dirigible!", Izzy cheered.

"Izzy, you were right. You are gonna get shot!", Rick said as he raised he weapon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! She's faster than she looks. And she's quiet, real quiet. Perfect for sneaking up on people, which is a very good thing.", he was going to continue his statement, but Hazel cut him off.

"Unless we go with their," she pointed at Ardeth and Rick as she spoke."approach of barging in face-first, guns blazing, and asking questions when they feel like it."

"It's always worked for us, right?", Rick asked Ardeth.

"Well, yes. The one time I tried asking questions first, my family disappeared for six years.", Ardeth answered, and Hazel pressed herself to his side.

"Again, I'm sorry! I promise you, as soon as we have a moment, I'll tell you why I was never able to contact you. Just do me a favor and remember that I love you more now than ever before, Ardeth Bay.", Hazel whispered to him, and he remained silent.

"Let's just go.", Rick said, trying his best to not glare at Ardeth for bringing that up again; the man would never know how much pain Hazel had gone through without him for the past six years.

That night, in part just trying to get out of telling Johnathan more about the pyramid at Ahm Shere, Ardeth asked if he and Hazel could talk. Hazel waited until Rick and Evy had sat down near Johnathan and Hala before leading Ardeth to the bow of the dirigible. They sat down, and she could practically feel the walls she had built up over the years crumbling as if a bomb had struck them.

"That night, the night Lok-Nah and his men attacked, was the most frightening night of my life. I heard the fighting, the screaming, and I was already so worried about you, that I panicked when Lok-Nah entered the tent. He made it clear that he was there for me, and he told me flat out that my magic would not defeat him. I was terrified he would try to take either one of the girls, as I have no sense of selfishness, and I panicked. I threw my arms around them and let the magic take over. I expected to have Lok-Nah blasted away from me, but instead, we were sent to Rick's.", she told him, and he let out a faint chuckle at her words.

"I had figured that much out, my dear. I have known how little you value yourself compared to others, and I can understand that. I am guilty of that as well.", he responded quietly, and Hazel smiled at him before continuing.

"Well, Rick brought us inside and said we'd try to contact you in the morning. The next morning, I wrote a letter for you. I sent it out, but it came back about two months later, and it was marked 'Return to Sender.' I cried for a week, thinking you were dead. I thought you were gone, and never coming back, until my last birthday. I went to sleep that night, and I had a dream much like the kind I had at Hamunaptra. You were in the palace, in our room, crying. You had Hala's doll and my dagger on my pillow. I thought it was of the past until you started talking.", a few tears slipped down her cheeks as she spoke, and Ardeth felt to helpless knowing that, technically, he was the reason for her tears at this moment.

"What did I say?", he asked, though he already knew.

"You said that you missed us, and that I should be with you, celebrating my twenty-ninth birthday. It was like I was right there, and I wanted to tell you that I was there, but I couldn't touch you. No matter how hard I tried to, it was as if some invisible barrier was between us. I think I let off a blast of magic in my sleep, because when I woke up, everything in my room had fallen over.", Hazel admitted.

"So, we did not see each other for six years because we both believed the other was dead.", Ardeth stated, and Hazel moved closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

"That seems to be the case. I thought about you every day for six years, let my heart go cold, all because I had assumed the worst had happened.", she whispered as the tears fell more heavily and rapidly.

"Hazel, there is something you must know.", Ardeth said as the tears began brimming in his eyes as well.

"You didn't do something stupid and let your mother convince you to remarry in the hopes of conceiving another heir, did you?", Hazel asked.

"No, not entirely.", he told her, and Hazel gave him a look that he had grown to fear, yet love.

"And what does that mean?", she asked.

"I told her, mostly to get her to stop commenting on me being childless, that if I did not have an heir before I turned the same age my father was when he became the chieftain, she could force me to remarry.", Ardeth explained, and Hazel felt as if someone had just stabbed her through the heart with a needle; a feeling that was both small and painful.

"Your father was thirty-two when that happened, and you turn thirty-two in six days.", Hazel broke down.

"Do not cry, my desert flower. I will not be remarrying, not when I have Hala and Amira. We are going to get our daughter back and go home. Everything is going to be fine.", he promised her, holding the weeping woman close to his chest.

"How do you know that?", she asked through her tears.

"I don't, but just being around you gives me the hope that it will. It always has in the past.", Ardeth said, and Hazel smiled at him.

"Really?", she asked softly.

"Yes, because you, my love, are the most stubborn person in the world, and I know you will not rest until you get what you want.", he said, kissing the top of Hazel's head as he said this.

"If you think I'm stubborn, you'll think your daughter is completely immovable once she sets her mind to something; she's just like her father.", Hazel replied with a slight eye-roll.

Hazel felt Ardeth's chest rumble as he chuckled at her comment, and snuggled closer to him. She had only ever dreamed of this, him holding her again. It would be perfect when she had her daughter back in her arms along with Hala, who was currently listening to a story Rick and Izzy were telling her about Hazel. They stayed like that until Evy let out a scream and went over the side of the dirigible.

Rick caught her leg, and Johnathan and Ardeth caught Rick. Hazel and Hala pulled back on Ardeth and Johnathan, and they managed to hoist Rick and Evy back into the aircraft.

After a few minutes of Evy telling them what she had seen, Hazel offering up a few "I told you so's", and Ardeth delving into the ancient legends again, Rick was the first to speak up.

"So you two are reincarnated princesses, and I'm a warrior for God?", he asked.

"Well, technically, if anyone wants to listen to me this time, you and Ardeth both were Medjai princes in a past life. Don't you laugh at me, Richard O'Connell! Who was it that saved your sorry a-butt from maniac mummies and cultists by using magic?", Hazel cut in, and Rick put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, so what now? What does all of this mean?", he asked.

"Well, as Alex appears to be the chosen one, the one to lead the way to Ahm Shere, then I say Uncle Rick kills the Scorpion King.", Hala said, causing all of the adults to just stare at her.

"And how do you suppose I do that, little miss?", Rick asked her.

"We follow them to Ahm Shere, get inside the pyramid, and find his lair. Then, you take this," they were stunned by the plan that sprang from the eleven year old's mouth and mind. "the Spear of Osiris, and kill the Scorpion King. Then you send the Army of Anubis back to the underworld, and toss Imhotep in for good measure. Don't you remember the prophecy Amira was talking about in the car, Khal?"

"Yes, but she never told us the inscription. Alex only saw the mark. This was all pre-ordained thousands of years ago, but I do not know the entirety of it.", Ardeth told the pre-teen girl, and Rick just looked at both of them.

"What does that mean?", he asked.

"You were destined to protect Evy. She was destined to find the bracelet, and Alex was destined to guide us to Ahm Shere. You are the three sides of the pyramid. Amira just literally got stuck in the middle of all of this.", Hazel explained, and Rick stared at her this time.

"And how does this all end?", he asked.

"Only the journey is written, not the destination.", Ardeth said wisely.

"How convenient.", Rick said sarcastically.

"Rick, how else can you explain that your son wears the bracelet, Evy was once Nefretiri, and that you were marked as a Medjai when you were eighteen?", Hazel asked her brother, who had a one word answer.

"Coincidence."

"My friend, there is a fine line between 'Coincidence' and 'Fate.'", Ardeth said mystically, but Rick still was not buying into the whole thing.

The children were not happy. They were chained up, inside Karnak, and Amira was staring to wonder how _she_ hadn't killed Alex yet.

"Why did you even ask for water?", she asked when Lok-Nah walked away after threatening to kill them again.

"We both know we'll be gone before out parents get here tomorrow. I figured we could leave them a small clue.", Alex replied, and then got to work building a sand castle model of the Temple of Isis at Philae.

The next day, when the adults and Hala reached Karnak, Rick and Ardeth went to search the train while the women ran into the temple. They had found nothing, until Hala spotted Alex's tie by a chain staked into the ground. Evy knelt down by the sand castle and called out to Rick.

"It's the Temple of Isis at Philae.", she told Rick.

"Isis?", Rick asked, looking at his sister.

"Yes, the goddess o- Oh! Amira will definitely be protected there.", Evy said as she caught on to Rick's train of thought.

"We need to hurry!", was the only thing Hazel got out as she realized what her brother had said.

At Philae, Amira had finally, if only accidentally, been separated from Alex. She was, for once, greatful that Imhotep had been there, for he was who prevented Lok-Nah from killing her when she got free.

**"**_**You cannot kill the girl here! Her mother is Isethamia, who is a part of Isis herself! You cannot kill the child of Isis in the TEMPLE of ISIS! Do you want us to be killed before we reach the Scorpion King?**_**"**, he snapped, and Lok-Nah lowered his knife as Imhotep turned away.

Amira seized the opportunity, and she looked at Alex as Lok-Nah got closer to the door Imhotep was going through.

"Go and hide. Tell our parents where to go next, what clue I left. If you are truly in your mother's temple, you should be safe. As long as I have the bracelet, I'm safe. Just remember that, Mira.", Alex told her, and she nodded before bolting out of the room.

Lok-Nah saw, and he chased her. She knew he was behind her, and she ran until she was in the inner sanctuary. She hid behind a pedestal, praying, to whatever god (or goddess) that was out there, that Lok-Nah would not find her. Then, she heard a loud thumping sound, and peaked around the pedestal to see Lok-Nah fighting an invisible shield to get access to her. Amira giggled, and then she moved back behind the pedestal to wait for her mother.

It was not long before the dirigible landed on Philae. Amira heard voices, and ran out of the sanctuary. She ran until she reached the outer courtyard, where Alex's jacket and sand castle lay. The first person she saw was the last person she expected to see with the group, the one person she expected to see fighting the army of Anubis.

"Babba!", she cried out, running towards Ardeth, who caught her with ease.

"Amira! Are you all right? How did you escape them? What happened?", he asked as he checked her over for bumps and bruises, Hazel doing much of the same beside him.

"Alex was making the sand model, and he pulled away too far. The necklace finally came unstuck, and Lok-Nah tried to kill me.", Amira began.

"Why didn't he kill her?", Hala asked, glad her cousin was alive.

"Imhotep wouldn't let him. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that's it, right, Mama? Well, he said that killing the child of Isis in her temple was basically a death wish. So I ran when they had their backs turned. Alex told me to leave him, because he's still wearing the bracelet. The model should be of Abu Simbal.", sure enough, it was.

"Amira, my darling, how did they not catch you?", Ardeth asked, still holding his daughter tightly.

"I ran into the sanctuary, and it was like an invisible wall had been put up in the doorway. Lok-Nah couldn't get to me, but I stayed behind the pedestal.", she answered.

"What does that mean?", Hala asked, and Hazel turned her head to face Ardeth.

"It means," she said. "we're all going to have to talk about some things."

A/N: Hope you liked it, and I will understand if you found anyone a little OOC. Don't you worry your pretty little heads off, Darlings; everything is going to be fine. If you don't believe me, go and ask Ardeth (JK), and I'll try to update soon, so keep and eye out for that! R&R!


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